It is the rare state in eighteenth-century…

It is the rare state in eighteenth-century India that wholly throws off all pretense of allegiance to the Mughals.

Rather, the Mughal system of honors and titles, as well as Mughal-derived administrative terminology and fiscal practices, has spread apace despite the deterioration of imperial power.

The Mughals in the 1720s theoretically claim rights over a far larger area than had ever been the case under Akbar, Jahangir, or Shah Jahan.

This area includes large parts of southern India, over which central rule is never actually consolidated.

The Marathas, taking advantage of their somewhat ambiguous relations with the Mughals, and claiming to be the agents of Delhi, often make partial claims on the revenues of these areas, as cauth and sardesmukhi.

This is the case, for example, in Mysore in the 1720s and '30s.

Mysore had come under the sovereign umbrella of the Mughals in the late 1690s, as the result of an embassy sent to Aurangzeb by Chikka Devaraja Vadiyar, the ruler of Mysore at the time and the the most notable of Mysore's early kings.

In effect, this means that Mysore is to pay a periodic tribute (peshkash) to Mughal representatives in the south, but there is a problem in doing so.

As Mughal authority in the Deccan and the south is itself fragmented, several possible channels of tribute exist.

Mysore thus seeks to make use of this ambiguity, playing off Chin Qilich Khan (known by the title Nizam-ul-Mulk), a powerful Mughal noble who in these years had founded a dynasty at Hyderabad, against the Mughal representative at Arcot, thereby putting off the tribute payment.

A further variable in the fiscal politics of Mysore is the presence of the Marathas; and some clans, such as the Ghorpades, make it a regular practice to raid the Mysore capital of Seringapatam (Shrirangapattana).

In this way, overlapping and at times conflicting claims are justified with reference to a Mughal center that is distant and for the most part lacks interest in these affairs.

As such, then, few if any of the states discussed above make a direct attack on Mughal legitimacy or seek to challenge Mughal claims head-on.

To the extent that such a frontal challenge (as distinct from a rebellion conducted within a shared understanding of the framework of authority) can be located in the period, it comes from the far northwest of the Mughal domain.

This repercussions from this challenge will be felt eventually by the Marathas and other groups.